A jubilant Chris Woakes salutes the crowd following his match-turning century against India at Lord’s.
Photograph: Alex Davidson/Rex/Shutterstock

Chris Woakes spoke of a boyhood dream coming true, at the venue where his statistics continue to astound, after a maiden Test century that demonstrated the high regard in which this understated but talented all-rounder is held.

The 29-year-old’s bat-raising celebrations after a scrambled three off Hardik Pandya brought Lord’s to its feet, the England balcony packed by applauding team-mates and social media awash with tributes to one of the sport’s most popular protagonists.

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In doing so Woakes became only the fifth cricketer to get his name on all three honours boards in the old pavilion – after Stuart Broad, Ian Botham, Keith Miller and Gubby Allen. It is already on those for five-wicket hauls and 10 wickets in a Test following his impressive match figures of 11 for 102 against Pakistan in 2016.

By the time bad light stopped play with Woakes unbeaten on 120, his batting average from three Tests at Lords sat at 122 to go with 16 wickets at just under 10 runs apiece.

Woakes said: “It was a sweet day after a frustrating summer, having missed quite a bit of cricket. I was over the moon just to get back in the squad, to be honest, so I could never have dreamed of scoring a hundred in my comeback Test.

“It’s still a blur, that 30 seconds of raising the bat feels like a blink of the eye. It was an incredible feeling and a boyhood dream. I’m lost for words, to be honest.”

Having claimed the key scalp of Virat Kohli among two victims on Friday with the ball, it has been some return for a player making his first England appearance since knee and quad injuries wiped out a huge chunk of his summer.

While working hard to get fit for this comeback – the second summer running he has missed games through injury – Woakes has also been juggling the early weeks of parenthood, after his wife, Amie, gave birth to their daughter, Laila, in early July.

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“It’s been a little bit of a shock to the system – obviously fantastic as well – and it puts things in perspective when you get home after a bad day. The lads asked me where the baby celebration was but for some reason that wasn’t on my mind,” he added.

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This chance for Woakes has come about through the absence of Ben Stokes – curiously, the pair have played only two home Tests together since their debuts in 2013 – but the Warwickshireman, who now boasts 10 first-class centuries, was only ever set on playing his own way as his stand of 189 with Jonny Bairstow (93) drove India to distraction.

He said: “Coming in in place of Ben Stokes, it’s quite big shoes to fill. But you try not to think about that – I don’t try to play like him, I play like myself, I try to do my job for the team, and thankfully I’ve done that so far.”

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On the removal of Kohli in India’s 107 all out, accounting for his captain at Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier this year with a beautiful outswinger, Woakes added: “We all know how good Virat is, a world-class player, No 1 in the Test rankings.

“He’s obviously a kingpin in India’s lineup. Particularly yesterday, with the ball moving around, it felt like it was a really good opportunity to try to get him out early. Once he gets in, he’s very difficult to get out – so I was delighted.”